Sofitel Queenstown Hotel and Spa has been named the world's best hotel-spa in this year's Travel + Leisure magazine's World's Best Awards.
Sofitel Queenstown earned the top spot in the overall spa category with a total score of 98.93 out of 100 points. It beat such notables as the Ritz-Carlton, in New Orleans (second), the Mandarin Oriental, in Bangkok (eighth), and the Four Seasons Hotel George V, in Paris (ninth).
Readers of the North American magazine voted for their top hotels, cruise lines, airlines, car-rental agencies, outfitters, cities and islands for the 16th year. Hotel-spas were judged on ambience, treatments, service and value.
Sofitel general manager Wouter De Graaf said in a statement this week the staff were "ecstatic" over the accolade.
"To be recognised as the world's very best against thousands of other hotel-spas is a phenomenal achievement. It goes to prove that, despite what might be considered a remote location at the bottom of the world in Queenstown, our spa service is so exceptional that we still come out sitting at the very top of it."
Sofitel is the only internationally branded hotel to have Exclusive Qualmark status in Qualmark's accommodation category. The hotel also earned Enviro-Gold status in the Qualmark category for green operators.
